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Poker Players Alliance Applauds Colorado Ruling in Poker Case

Washington, DC (January 26, 2009)

–The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide and more than13,000 in Colorado, today commended the ruling in

Colorado v. Kevin Raley

, in which a juryfound the organizer of a poker league not guilty of illegal gambling.The lawyers for the defense presented expert testimony by Professor Robert Hannum, Professor of Statistics at the University of Denver, that poker is a game of skill. Under Colorado law,illegal gambling “means risking any money, credit, deposit, or other thing of value for gaincontingent in whole or in part upon lot, chance, the operation of a gambling device, or thehappening or outcome of an event, including a sporting event, over which the person taking arisk has no control, but does not include bona fide contests of skill.” This testimony waschallenged by the prosecution, yet the jury still returned a not guilty verdict likely due toProfessor Hannum’s testimony and the overwhelming body of evidence that demonstrates that poker is in fact a game of skill.“The PPA is pleased with the outcome of this case. It is further confirmation that poker is indeeda game of skill, not chance,” said Gary Reed, the Colorado State Director of the PPA. “At thesame time, the not guilty verdict cements the rights of Colorado citizens to enjoy the American pastime of poker and will allow law enforcement to use its scarce resources to investigate realunlawful activity in the state, not poker games.”“I am pleased that the jury agreed that my actions in organizing a poker league did not constituteillegal gambling,” said Kevin Raley, the defendant in this case. “As a proud member of the PPA,I want to thank them for their support of my case.”“Today’s ruling is the third victory for the poker community in less than a week, following on theheels of verdicts in Kentucky and Pennsylvania that protect an individual’s right to play poker ata time and place of their choosing,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. “Themomentum continues in our favor, and the PPA will continue to champion such causes in other states as well as at the national level.”

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